The Program
by Sariel 001
Summary: It was always assumed that the agent programs were created, but what if the first agent was a human and what if this "program" was still in effect?


The Program  
  
Ok, yes, one of my characters is named Seraph, but this was entirely way before I knew that there was a Seraph in Matrix Reloaded, I swear. No she is in no way connected to the Seraph in the movie, although, that is a cool idea. Actually, Seraph was the original name chosen for the character Kira in FALLEN. When I leaned about Seraph in Matrix Reloaded a created an entirely different plot line for my newly named Kira character. So there's the explanation and by the way, in no way do I own any of the real Matrix characters.  
  
Chapter One  
  
System online... Systems check... Hard drive functional... Memory error... Unknown data...  
  
"Let's go Sariel, we're going to be late!"  
"I'm coming, wait for me daddy!" A small child of ten came bounding down the stairs. She hardly stopped as she jumped into the arms of her father. Hugging her tightly, he spun her around in the air before putting her down. She squealed with delighted contentment as he put her down.  
"You wouldn't really leave me, would you?" Sariel's beautiful green eyes widened with a sudden irrational fear.  
"I could never leave you, Sariel. I love you too much."  
"Promise, promise?"  
"Always, always." Sariel beamed with utmost happiness at her father's reply.  
"I love you daddy."  
"I love you too, my little seraph..."  
  
"What's wrong?" Smith heard a female's voice behind him, as he seemed to regain his senses.  
What was that? Smith thought. That never happened before.  
"Are you ok?" Smith turned to face a young woman about twenty-three.  
"Fine," Smith replied in his usual monotone. He noticed that her eyes gave away hidden concern for him. Smith was an A.I. program so he had no real concept of human beauty, but he had a feeling that human males found her very pleasing to the eye. She was fairly tall, about five feet nine inches. Her body was lean and well toned from all the training he had subjected her too. She wore a simple black tank top with a pair of black baggy cargo pants, matched with black and white Nike cross trainers. She had straight raven black hair that made a startling contrast to her emerald green eyes. Smith had always wondered if her hair was as soft as it looked.  
What am I thinking? Smith mentally shook his head to rid of his unusual thoughts. "Get in the car, Seraph."  
Seraph just frowned. Yeah, he's all right. Seraph got into the sleek Audi sedan as Smith made his way to the driver side.  
  
Neo sensed something was different as he landed on the rooftop of a building somewhere between Sixth and Main. Wearing his priest-robe like coat with his sleek shades to match, Neo headed for the door that led to the stairs, only to stop when he thought he heard something. Neo scanned the roof once again. He saw nothing, but something told him he was not alone up here. Turning once again for the door, he was suddenly confronted by a young woman, probably several years younger than him. If he didn't know any better he would have sworn she was just a college girl. She wore a pair of black jeans with a white tank top topped with a black denim jacket.  
  
"Who are you?"  
"My name is Seraph." Neo noticed that she was not a program. She was human and yet, something seemed odd about her, and it wasn't her unsettling beauty or her Mona Lisa smile. For some reason Neo envisioned that beautiful, yet sly smile hid something more like poisonous fangs.  
"Am I supposed to know you?"  
"No, not yet. But you will know me very well in the next few minutes."  
"Look, I don't know what you want, but I have to go."  
"That's what you think."  
"Excuse me?"  
Seraph only smiled and to answer his last remark, she shifted gracefully into a fighting stance. Neo could hardly believe what he was seeing. Was she really trying to challenge him?  
"Are you joking?"  
"I am a lot things, Mr. Anderson, but I never jest."  
Neo's mind snapped into attention. Only one other person ever called him that, Smith.  
"Who are you?"  
"I told you, I am Seraph. You're not paying attention, Mr. Anderson," Seraph replied with a mocking tone. "Shall we?"  
Neo felt a strange urge to leave this particular fight alone, but before he could react, Seraph made a lighting quick roundhouse kick to his head. Dodging it with quite a bit of ease, Neo finally got into a fight position. Neo noticed that Seraph seemed amused, like she was just sparing with an old friend, but Neo also felt something else; she was dangerous and if she got the chance she would kill him without hesitation.  
"You really want to do this?"  
"Let's dance," Seraph replied with cool confidence.  
  
Neo waited for his new adversary to make the first move and nearly missed it as it came straight for his head. A few seconds later then he would have been face to face with her Nike cross trainers. It became very clear that she meant business.  
"All right." Neo finally shifted into his fighting stance. "Your move."  
What ensued next was nothing more than a blur as they exchanged a hail of punches and kicks with a barrage of flips and gravity defying aerobatics. When Neo thought he finally had her cornered she suddenly whipped out a long chain and in one fluid movement wrapped it around Neo's neck. Neo didn't hesitate as he grabbed the chain and pulled it with Seraph right over his head. Seraph countered by twisting in mid air to land gracefully on her feet facing him once again.  
"Not bad," Neo tried to hide his rising apprehension. This one was completely different. "You're fighting for them aren't you?"  
"You say it like it's a bad thing," Seraph smiled wickedly.  
"Why?"  
"Why not?"  
Neo was at a lost for words. It was then that Neo felt a rift in the code. It was the agents.  
"You feel them coming don't you?" Seraph asked.  
"Can you?"  
Before Seraph could comment, the three agents came bursting from the door behind her. Shifting so that she could see both Neo and them, Seraph knew they weren't after Neo this time.  
"It is her and the anomaly," said Thompson.  
"Should we get them both?" asked Jackson  
"The girl is the priority," replied Johnson.  
Neo looked at Seraph. Why are they interested in her? Neo hardly needed to pay attention as Jackson and Thompson came after him. They were slightly more advanced than the last ones, but not by that much. Neo noticed that Johnson went after Seraph. He had no doubt that she could hold her own, but something told him he should help out anyway.  
Neo had planned to dispatch these two quickly, but they were stubbornly persistent and not their usual offensive selves.  
What the hell is going on?  
Both Jackson and Thompson froze. They held their hands to their earpieces. Neo stopped as he watched them phase out of their human hosts. Neo was now left with two strangers completely unaware of where they were and how they got there. Then it finally came to him, they were stalling me, leading me away from Seraph.  
"Shit." Neo pulled out his phone and punched the automatic redial.  
"Operator."  
"Link, can you find out what happened to the girl I was just fighting with?"  
"Hold on, let me check. She's running down Wilmington, she had three agents on her tail. They're pushing her into a dead end."  
"Wilmington and what?"  
"Wilmington and Second. You better get there quick, she's good, but I doubt that she is that good."  
  
Seraph took one look around her and knew that she had made a mistake. They were pushing her into a dead end.  
"Damn it!" She had no choice but to fight, but at least she could choose the field. She stopped running and waited for the agents. She saw the taller one running toward her with the other two right behind him. 


End file.
